Author: Ki Song

Photo 1. Aaron waiting to give his dissertation presentation in the Bryan Research Building.

The Acharya Lab at Duke University is delighted to congratulate Dr. Aaron May on the successful defense of his doctoral dissertation, “Characterization of Novel and Diverse Henipavirus Glycoproteins,” presented to the Duke University Department of Biochemistry on October 28, 2025!

Aaron’s defense marks a special milestone as he becomes the first PhD graduate from the Acharya Lab. Aaron joined the Biochemistry PhD program in 2020 after completing his B.S. at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and became a member of the Acharya Lab in 2021. He was mentored by Dr. Priyamvada Acharya and personally thanked his committee members — Drs. Alberto Bartesaghi, Pei Zhou, Micah Luftig, and Kevin Saunders — for their support and guidance throughout his PhD journey.

Photo 2. 11:55 AM at the 103 Bryan Research Building lecture hall—five minutes before the official start of Aaron’s dissertation. The hexagonal photo features Aaron with his parents.

Fig 1. May AJ, et al. Structures of Langya Virus Fusion Protein Ectodomain in Pre- and Postfusion Conformation. J Virol. 2023

Among Aaron’s significant research contributions is his study titled “Structures of Langya Virus Fusion Protein Ectodomain in Pre- and Postfusion Conformation” (J. Virol., 2023), which revealed cryo-EM structures of the Langya virus fusion protein in both prefusion and postfusion conformations. This work identified unique surface features and fusion mechanisms that expand our understanding of Henipavirus evolution and inform future vaccine design. His most recent study, “Structural and Antigenic Characterization of Novel and Diverse Henipavirus Glycoproteins”, currently under review, builds on this foundation by examining a broad panel of henipavirus antigens.

Beyond his primary thesis project, Aaron also contributed to collaborative efforts in the lab, including structural studies on SARS-CoV-2, further demonstrating his versatility and dedication to advancing viral structural biology.

Photo 3. Celebrating Aaron’s successful defense. (Left) Dr. Priyamvada Acharya and Dr. Aaron J May. (Right) Aaron raising his glass in a toast.

Throughout his graduate career, Aaron has been recognized for his scientific rigor, collaborative spirit, and mentorship of junior trainees in the lab. The Acharya Lab celebrates his hard work, perseverance, and many accomplishments during his PhD. Way to go, Dr. May!

At last! We’re excited to announce that the Acharya Lab website is now officially live. It is now linked on both the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and the Duke Biochemistry Department websites.

Many thanks to the members of the Acharya Lab for their valuable feedback and suggestions, which were instrumental in building this website. Moving forward, we’ll continue to make updates as new members join the lab, new papers are published, and fun and exciting events take place!

Special thanks to Rasangi and Salam for the incredible talent and effort they brought to this project—it’s thanks to them that we now have this beautiful website. I’ll end this post with a photo I took—the very first one for this project, in fact—back in April, during the early stages of the Acharya Lab website development:

– Ki

At last, in the seventh year of the Acharya Lab at Duke University School of Medicine, the team has decided to launch a website for the group! Our goal is to have a functional version of the website ready before the Fall 2025 semester.

Anyways, here is the list of current website developers:

• Rasangi Pathirage, Ph.D.
• Salam Sammour
• Ki Song

….

Let’s see how this goes!